Chapter 227

The courtyard of the Han family quieted down again. Han Wei and Mrs. Han carefully stored away the paintings. They didn’t know which one would need to be submitted, so they couldn’t afford to let any get dirty.

After packing up the paintings, Mrs. Han sat in the hall, sighing heavily. The more she thought about it, the more distressed she felt, and she couldn’t help but tear up.

“It’s those neighbors. How deep must their grudge be to sabotage Wei’s college entrance exam like this?”

Seeing his mother wiping tears away, Han Wei reassured her, “Mom, don’t worry. I’ll do well in the exam. Teacher Shi said my paintings have a lot of spirit. I’ll make it.”

“When I get into a good university, they’ll envy and resent us.”

It seemed that the last sentence comforted Mrs. Han. She wiped her tears and said, “Son, Mom believes you can do it.”

She had seen through it all.

The closer the relationship, the easier it was for jealousy to arise. People couldn’t stand seeing others succeed.

When Captain Han heard about this, he couldn’t help but say, “From now on, let’s make our own decisions about these things. Let Wei decide for himself. His life is his own, and he understands painting better than any of us. If he passes the initial selection, great. If not, he can continue teaching. A real man won’t starve.”

In the end, Han Wei chose the skull sketch he had practiced the most and a portrait he had drawn for his family and sent them out.

The day after the initial selection questions were announced, Nanjing Art Academy received numerous packages.

Most were from local students.

The school sent drivers to shuttle between the military camp and the school, delivering artworks for the art department.

Lu Weiguo even assigned two people to supervise the process to prevent any mistakes.

The first batch consisted of over a hundred artworks.

Shi Tingyu and the other two teachers sat outside, using knives to open the packages.

Soldiers stood nearby. The three worked tirelessly, only finishing by the afternoon.

The artworks were all rolled up, and Professor Tian even flattened some with weights.

They eagerly examined each piece. When they found a particularly good one, they took it out for a closer look.

However, as more and more artworks arrived, they soon lost the enthusiasm to scrutinize each one.

Opening packages every day made their hands shake.

Eventually, since there were so many artworks, Team Leader Wang brought in two workers to help. Fortunately, their printing tasks were not too heavy at the moment.

With the addition of these two workers, Shi Tingyu and the others’ speed increased significantly.

They spent only a few seconds on each manuscript.

The initial selection required submitting three to five works, but most students chose the latter, hoping that at least one would catch the teachers’ eyes.

Shi Tingyu also saw Han Wei’s paintings.

She had seen some of Han Wei’s previous works and could recognize them. Among the paintings sent, there were indeed very few skull sketches.

Both Professor Qi and Professor Tian unanimously approved Han Wei’s works.

After all, his paintings were indeed quite good, showing vitality compared to others and solid basic skills.

The art department was bustling with activity, and the work of the other departments on preparing questions was coming to an end.

By the time the other departments finished their questions, the art department was still unpacking.

Seeing this, Team Leader Wang had people from other departments help unpack and organize.

With more hands on deck, they finally completed the initial selection work by the end of November.

After their busy work, the workers began their bustling printing tasks.

Just the paper for printing exams used several tons.

After the papers were printed, they needed to be sorted, classified, packaged, and stamped, all tasks completed by the teachers.

Shi Tingyu was almost tired of stamping.

On December 5th, all the exam papers were transported and distributed to various locations.

Shi Tingyu and the workers continued to isolate themselves in the military camp.

As December arrived, both students and parents became increasingly nervous.

On December 11th, students from all over the country poured into the examination rooms.

The exam lasted for three consecutive days before the college entrance exams in Su Province were finally over.

After the exams in Su Province concluded, Shi Tingyu and the teachers and workers were finally relieved of their duties.

But there was no time to rest; they immediately plunged into the grading work.

Graders were brought in from various places, and though they were numerous, there were not many places that could accommodate over a hundred people for both grading and basic necessities.

Ultimately, they set up the grading operation within the camp.

Before grading began, they held a mobilization meeting.

Shi Tingyu listened with a bemused expression as slogans were shouted from above.

It wasn’t until the mobilization meeting concluded that grading officially began.

The teachers who had set the exam questions for each group now became the leaders of their grading teams.

Their main task was to guide the grading process.

The teachers brought in to assist them became the main force of the grading teams.

The art department had more works to grade, but their grading was simpler compared to the cultural subjects.

The artworks were spread out, and they could afford to spend a few extra seconds on each piece.

Many were judged swiftly with a pointed stick on the ground, “This one, this one, and this one, ninety points.”

Then the staff collected the works and put them together.

They repeated this process, determining which were eighty points, which were seventy points, and so on.

As a result, the art department’s grading progressed faster than that of the other cultural subjects.

The slowest was the Chinese language department.

The exam papers were lengthy, with the composition alone accounting for seventy points.

There was still no unified standard.

Amid the bustling grading process, Shi Tingyu and the others heard a commotion from the adjacent group.

Looking out, Shi Tingyu saw many teachers carrying bulging bags.

Professor Qi frowned at this sight and let out a cold snort.

In the afternoon, a grading teacher from the art department found Professor Qi and Shi Tingyu, informing them of what had happened.

“Captain Qi, Captain Shi, the grading teachers from the cultural subjects were visited by leaders who comforted them. Why haven’t we received such a visit? They even got quite a few things, like cigarettes, alcohol, and tea.”

Professor Qi, experienced and astute, knew something was amiss.

“Just focus on our own work. Don’t let immediate gains cloud your judgment.”

Upon hearing about the leadership visit and the gifts being distributed, Shi Tingyu immediately sensed bribery at play.

Some of the teachers below, quick-witted, also realized that the situation was not straightforward.

Several grading teachers who wanted to inquire about the situation went out.

Shi Tingyu sighed softly and murmured, “Professor Qi, isn’t this too blatant?”

Professor Qi glanced at the lively scene nearby with a hint of sarcasm, “Blatant? This is just normal leadership visitation.”

Shi Tingyu took a more optimistic view of the situation, “This is the first college entrance exam since its restoration. It’s highly valued, especially here in the camp. Many eyes are watching; it will be addressed.”

Professor Qi smiled at this, “Indeed, but it’s not our concern. Let’s focus on our own tasks.”